1. All internal conflict, no external conflict. Does more happen in the character’s head than in the plot? This is going to be a problem whether it’s literary or commercial fiction. Make sure enough things happen.

2. Pace. The most important thing to get an agent’s attention is to keep us turning the pages and stop us from doing other things. The moment things lag, you’ve lost us.

3. Voice. This one’s more subjective, but the way to check if your book has voice is whether we can tell the difference between whose head we’re in or who is speaking at any given time. Everything about your writing style needs personality. What makes your book special? Your voice. It’s how we separate all the books out there.

4. Dialogue. This goes with my point above. I should be able to tell who is speaking–a character, not you the author. For me, this separates the beginners from the advanced writers.

7. Characters. Some people feel differently about the ‘likeability’ aspect of characters. Personally, I enjoy ‘liking’ characters, but more importantly: Do they grow? Do they evolve? Do we care about their stakes and what happens to them? If not, I’m not on board.

This comes from reading many, many slush pile manuscripts that I often like but don’t love.

The better you know your characters, the more distinctive their voices will be. Their voices will be theirs, not yours. It’s a cliché, but it’s true. Write monologues in the voice of your various characters. Write dialogues between characters. These probably won’t make it into the final book, but they’ll teach you a lot.

How often is there nothing wrong with a manuscript (or it is right enough that an agent is willing to work with it) but it rejected because the premise doesn’t personally appeal to the agent or the agent decides that it isn’t marketable? Thanks!

Eric, I was just thinking about this the other day. If I had to read queries I was wondering if I would reject many because I personally am not interested in the storyline. I could care less about teenage vampires zombies! Boom, gone in the trash. So, I too would like to get into the head of why they continue reading if they are not personally interested in the subject. Are there guidelines they look for in their particular agency? Certain markers? Are they given specific subject to pursue when they read the queries? The worse thing would be is to read a query and reject it and know that another agency picked it up and made millions on it. It happens all the time…but do you want to be the agent that tells her boss…”Oh, I read that query and rejected it!”

Deeva, agents let those things roll off their backs. Every time something sells, at least one agent has passed on it. An agent’s job is to do best by their author, so if we don’t see the appeal you’re better off with someone who does. The best agent is the one that has the connections and is THE MOST excited about your project and you.

It’s a very enlightening list. I can see that being too experimental can become a risk (as usual). Thanks a lot for the quick and helpful checklist. Definitely, this next year I’m querying and I want to do it the right way.

These guidelines are worth paying attention to even if you’re not going the traditional route. I’ve read several novels recently — self-published, indy-published, and even in one case commercially published — that read like promising first drafts. Attention to some or all of these guidelines would have helped all of them.

Reblogged this on Leona's Blog of Shadows and commented:
Except for the length, all of it is true for indie publishing too. Throwing a badly written manuscript at a few slush pile readers is a lot less embarrassing than throwing it in front of thousands of readers, imho. A literary agent sends a rejection letter in private, but the readers who actually purchase the self published books give nasty one star reviews trashing it in public view.
Yes, readers can forgive some spelling and grammar mistakes, but they are not likely to forgive the badly written and weak characters, confusing dialogs and boring pages.

Hello again, Carly ~ please forgive the irregular request, but I’m wondering if you might have a chance to look at the opening paragraphs of the short story on my blog, “Village of the Smokey Hills”? Just wondering if you’d give the opening a thumbs up or thumbs down, but I understand if time or boundaries don’t allow for you to look at it. I do have another novel that I’m working on, and will send you a query. Thanks for your awesome blog!

Thanks for thislist… I was curious about word count guidelines… my current novel is kind of an epic at 190 000 words in total. But it is a multi character and viewpoint work spanning a calendar year. Is there not a point where length is a function of the subject?

Reblogged this on Glamour Philosophy and commented:
All of us can use these tips. I know I can!; and will tackle my writing this year like I haven’t in literally a decade! My life has changed soo much and I finally am free to do what I love. Writing and going back to school for computers! Two different worlds, but will be harmonious to Me!! Wish me luck!

About Carly Watters

Carly Watters is a VP and Senior Literary Agent at the P.S. Literary Agency. Carly began her publishing career in London at the Darley Anderson Literary, TV and Film Agency. She has a BA in English Literature from Queen’s University and a MA in Publishing Studies from City University London. Since joining PSLA in 2010 Carly has had great success launching new authors domestically and abroad.
Never without a book on hand she reads across categories which is reflected in the genres she represents at PSLA. Representing debuts and bestsellers, Carly is drawn to: emotional, well-paced fiction, with a great voice and characters that readers can get invested in; and platform-driven non fiction.